Harvesting under fire.. Israeli occupation bulldozers eat hundreds of dunams in Quneitra
The farmers of Quneitra are living in a state of increasing concern for their lands and crops as the harvest season approaches, as a result of the continuous practices and violations carried out by the Israeli occupation forces deep into Syrian territory.
Local sources in Quneitra reported that the Israeli forces have recently deliberately set fire to the areas cultivated with wheat and barley crops in conjunction with their maturity, and the bulldozing operations of the "Sofa 53" security road planned to be built by the occupation led to the seizure of hundreds of dunums belonging to citizens, the destruction of houses located on the route of the road, and the transformation of agricultural work in Quneitra and the western countryside of Daraa into one of the most dangerous professions in southern Syria.
Dredging 12 thousand dunums
The director of the "Sijil" Center for Documenting Israeli Violations in Southern Syria, Hamza Ghadban, confirmed in a statement that the occupation forces bulldozed about 12,000 dunums of agricultural lands as part of the plans to build the security road.
Ghadban explained that the violations included the spraying of incendiary chemical pesticides by Israeli planes over a stretch of more than 65 kilometers, which resulted in the hardening of large green areas and the damage of about 3,500 dunums of pastures, including 1,500 dunums of forests whose trees were cut down at the beginning of 2025, in addition to the damage to 450 dunums of winter crops and 50 dunums of perennial olive trees.
Amjad al-Hajji, an activist in the affairs of the southern region, explained that the Israeli attacks also affected the western countryside of Daraa province, where the lands around the village of Saissoun were subjected to concentrated artillery shelling that led to the outbreak of fires in crops, in parallel with similar incidents in the vicinity of the village of Taranja in Quneitra, in which shepherds and farmers were targeted with direct bullets.
Al-Hajji added that this dangerous targeting has prompted farmers to reduce their working hours on their lands to avoid dangers, especially in the villages adjacent to the disengagement line.
UN efforts without guarantees
These developments on the ground come to put the trade union and UN bodies in front of an urgent humanitarian and legal entitlement, as the Farmers' Union in Kenitra held intensive meetings with the leadership of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), with the aim of developing coordination mechanisms to ensure that farmers reach their lands near the separation line without being targeted.
According to the talks, it was decided to submit official lists of farmers' names through the heads of agricultural associations to facilitate the harvest of the village of Saida and the neighboring villages in the southern countryside of Quneitra, but these arrangements, according to the "Sijil" center, do not amount to full guarantees in light of the continuation of military incursions and detentions, the most recent of which was the arrest of a Syrian youth following an Israeli incursion into the village of Ain Ziwan, which deepened the state of mistrust among the residents about the ability of the "UNDOF" forces to provide them with real protection and curb the violations that are taking place In full view of the international mission.